NYSUT on Wednesday released what it’s calling a “groundbreaking” teacher evaluation system that was produced through a labor-management collaboration at six districts around the state — including Albany as well as Hempstead, Marlboro, North Syracuse, Plattsburgh, and Poughkeepsie.

The four-step system — laid out in a 95-page handbook that comes complete with glossary — includes initial “self-reflection” in which a teacher discusses his perspective on educational practices and goals; an assessment period that includes observation and consideration of teaching materials and student work; the presentation of a “summative evaluation” of the teacher; and the final establishment of a “goal-setting and professional learning plan.” Teachers who fall short would receive a year-long “Intervention” plan with special recommendations for improvement; if a tenured teacher remains on Intervention for more than a year, the teacher could be subject to dismissal by the district superintendent.

The evaluation process would be overseen by the Peer Assistance and Review panel, a “joint labor/management committee” of teachers and administrators. Considering this handbook was written by NYSUT, you might be able to guess who holds the majority:

Teachers hold the majority of seats on the panel. The local union president appoints the teacher members of the panel and the district superintendent appoints the administrator members. Appointments are for time-limited terms. The panel is co-chaired by a teacher and an administrator.

The panel oversees the program, refines its practice, and manages its budget. It selects and supervises the CTs [Consulting Teachers, who mentor and evaluate their fellow educators]. The panel holds regular meetings during which CTs report on teachers’ progress. Based on their review of the CTs’ formal evaluations, the panel recommends to the superintendent whether novice teachers should be reappointed. The panel also reviews the CTs’ formal evaluations of experienced teachers in the Intervention Program and assesses their progress according to the state Teaching Standards. The co-chairs will convey the panel’s assessments to the superintendent, who may recommend the dismissal of teachers who remain underperforming. A two-thirds majority vote will be required for all of the panel’s decisions involving teachers’ performance assessments. All matters considered by the panel will be confidential.

The teachers who would serve in such a panel would be “taking responsibility for who is in the profession … based on the established evaluations and standards,” said Larry Waite, NYSUT’s manager of educational services.

In an interview, NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi said that it’s logical that a peer panel reviewing teachers would include a higher representation of teachers, and that nothing in the plan would take away a superintendent’s ability to dismiss teachers who had been objectively determined to be underperformers for two consecutive years. The panel’s failure to achieve a two-thirds vote on either a good or a bad evaluation, he said, would place the decision in the hands of the superintendent.

Iannuzzi emphasized that TED is being offered as a starting point for each of the state’s almost 800 districts to work out an evaluation system that works best for it, as determined in collective bargaining with each bargaining unit. Every detail — from the size of the panel to its composition — could be customized.

“Many districts are frustrated by the cost and expense” of trying to develop their own system, he said.

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